'Skelter' Said to Lead Teens to Kill Boy

Published 8:00 pm, Tuesday, June 17, 2003

Four teenagers charged with beating a 16-year-old boy to death plotted the killing for weeks and listened to the Beatles song "Helter Skelter" several dozen times before the murder, according to an alleged confession read in court.

Prosecutors said they were considering seeking the death penalty for the three oldest boys. Morley is too young to be sentenced to death under state law.

The four are accused of killing Jason Sweeney in a vacant lot on May 30. Police contend that Morley promised sex to lure Sweeney to the lot, where the other three beat him with a hatchet, a hammer and a brick. He was robbed of $500 he earned on a construction job.

Philadelphia Medical Examiner Ian Hood testified that the attackers broke all but one of the bones in Sweeney's face.

According to Dominic Coia's alleged confession, the youths listened to "Helter Skelter" 42 times and had a "group hug" immediately after the killing. They allegedly used the money to buy drugs.

In 1969, Charles Manson and his followers killed nine people in the Los Angeles area in what prosecutors said was an attempt to start a race war that Manson believed was prophesied in "Helter Skelter."